But LCD is refusing to go quietly as its picture qualitykeeps getting better. At the same time, the major backers ofcredit card-thin OLED panels - led by Samsung Electronics Co and LG Electronics Inc - are strugglingto make the technology cheap enough to mass produce. The twoSouth Korean firms this year showcased 55-inch (140 cm) OLEDTVs, but priced at around $10,000 - 10 times that of an LCDequivalent - they have yet to reach store shelves.

OLED displays, used on Samsung's Galaxy S and Notesmartphones, have been touted as the future display model toreplace LCDs across the consumer electronics spectrum - from TVsto computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. OLED is moreenergy efficient and offers higher contrast images than LCD, andis so thin that future mobile devices will be unbreakable, andwill be able to be folded or rolled up like a newspaper.

But OLED panel makers such as Samsung Display and LG Display have yet to address major manufacturing challengesto lower costs to compete against LCD panels.

At the same time, LCD panels, which are used on 9 of every10 television sets, are still evolving and show no sign ofgiving way in this latest battle to set the global standard -less than a decade since LCD effectively killed off plasmascreens.

"OLED still has a long way to go to become a mainstreamdisplay, as it has to become bigger and improve picturequality," said Chung Won-seok, an analyst at HI Investment &Securities. "The use of OLEDs will continue to be confined tosmall displays at least for the next 2-3 years. Its usage as amainstream TV panel is only likely in 2014, but even thenthere's a possibility of intense competition with LCD TVs asthat technology keeps improving."

According to DisplaySearch, it will take another four yearsfor OLED screens to capture less than a tenth of the global TVscreen market.

PIXEL WAR

Far from fading, LCD panels now offer better picture quality- up to four times better than OLED - and use less power,creating robust demand from smartphone and tablet makers.

As has often been the case, Apple Inc moved thegoalposts by upgrading the display resolution for its iPhone andiPad, still the high-end LCD market's gold standard, promptingrivals to upgrade their display panel qualifications. Analystsat Macquarie predict Apple will adopt high-resolution screensfor the MacBook Air and iMac monitor next year, accelerating the industry's shift to high-resolution displays.

"It's only a matter of time (before) other high-end notebookcompanies such as Sony Corp, Toshiba Corp andSamsung upgrade their screens to high-resolution to compete withApple's MacBook series," Macquarie analyst Henry Kim wrote in arecent client note.

"The pixel war is an absolute bonanza for LCD makers," saidKim Byung-ki, analyst at Kiwoom Securities. "Manufacturers fromLG Display to Samsung, Sharp Corp, AU Optronics Corp and Chimei (Innolux) all will graduallyconvert their traditional lines into more high-end product fabs,and that will curtail supply and boost profitability."

These higher-resolution panels cost more than double thecommodity-type LCD screens, boosting panel producers' profits.Even Samsung, the standard bearer for OLED panels and also amajor LCD manufacturer, is actively promoting LCD screens fortablets and laptops over OLED, said a person familiar with thematter, who was not authorised to talk to the media so didn'twant to be named.

Sharper resolution LCD TV screens also mean OLED isstruggling to make inroads in that market.

Both Sony and LG Electronics now sell ultra HD (highdefinition) LCD sets that boast four times the picture qualityof HD TVs. The two firms, which are selling 84-inch TVs, aim toreduce that size to cater for more popular smaller sets.

IN TIGHT SUPPLY?

To squeeze more pixels per inch, panel makers are upgradingtheir thin-film transistor (TFT) panel production facilities tonew IGZO or LTPS processing technologies that require almosttwice as many processing steps and which suffer higher faultyproduct rates and lost output.

Japan's Sharp is the frontrunner in IGZO technology, whichuses indium gallium zinc oxide instead of amorphous silicon, inpanel manufacturing. LG Display, a major supplier to Apple, isinvesting 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) by end-2013 in itsproduction of low-temperature poly silicon (LTPS) panels - atechnology used to make screens for the iPhone and iPad.